How Do Women Talk Sports?

There is little doubt that the emergence of social media has changed the way sport and sports commentary is consumed. Blogs, fan sites and socialnetworking tools such as Twitter have challenged the power hierarchy and the gate-keeping processes in relationship to whatsports are publicized and howathletes receive attention. Athletes now have a “21st century printing press” on the mobile device in their pockets, enabling them to break news about their lives and careers, bypassing the filtering process of professional journalists (Clark 2011: para. 7). Fan-produced blogs compete with those of traditional media organizations for followers (Reilly 2008). Online sport communities create spaces for fans to congregate and converse in public forums that are easily accessible.